Acts 21:1

ἀναχθῆναι, see above on Acts 13:13. ἀποσ., cf. Acts 20:30, “were parted from them,” R.V. The word expresses a separation difficult and painful; it adds to the pathos of the scene, and marks the close affection which could not bear the thought of a parting, “divulsi ab eorum complexu,” Blass (see Chrys., comment, in loco). εὐθυδ., see on Acts 16:11. Κῶν, Stanchio or Stanko, an island of great trading importance off the coast of Caria, south of Miletus and Samos, and north of Rhodes. Historically it had several points of connection with the Jews, cf. 1Ma 15:23, Jos., Ant., xiv., 7, 2, and 10, 15, B. J., i., 21, 11, and owing to its commerce it became one of the centres of Jewish life in the Ægean. It lay about forty nautical miles from Miletus, and it was famous as the birthplace not only of Hippocrates, but of Apelles, and as being one of the great medical schools of the ancient world. See further “Cos” (Ramsay), Hastings' B.D., and B.D. 2; Farrar, Saint Paul, ii. 284; Lewin, St. Paul, ii. 96; cf. Strabo, xiv., 2, Hor., Od., iv., 13, 13, Tac., Ann., xii., 61. C. and H. think that the chief town of the same name at the east of the island is referred to in the narrative before us. The place must have had, as C. and H. note, a special interest for St. Luke. Ῥόδον : off the south coast of Caria. According to the proverb the sun shone every day on Rhodes, and it might well be called the sunny island of roses. Her coins, stamped on one side with Apollo's head radiated, and on the other with the rose-flower, bear their witness to the brightness and fertility of the island. Moreover, it was a seat not only of commerce but of learning. St. Paul does not appear to have landed, but only to have touched at the island. The great Colossus representing the sun, counted as one of the wonders of the world, lay prostrate, having been broken down by an earthquake, Pliny, N. H., xxxiv., 18; Strabo, xiv., 2. In the time of the Peloponnesian War Rhodes had been famous for its strong navy, as its timber was abundant. A notice of Jewish residents in Rhodes meets us in 1Ma 15:23. On subsequent history see the excellent account in C. and H., small edit., p. 357; Farrar, Saint Paul, 2, p. 285. Πάταρα : a seaport on the Lycian coast, now in ruins, but probably a place of some importance and splendour. C. and H. say that Patara was to the city Xanthus what the Piræus was to Athens. On the modern discoveries in Patara see C. and H., small edit., note p. 560, cf. Herod., i., 182, Hor., Od., iii., 4, 64, Lewin, St. Paul, ii. 99, O. Holtzmann, Neutest. Zeitgeschichte, p. 101. “The voyage may be taken as typical of the course which hundreds of ships took every year,” Ramsay, St. Paul, p. 297, and cf. the illustrations from Roman history in C. and H., p. 560 note.